Fundamentals

The advantage of fly tying is that you can match the aquatic foods
better in the waters that you fish. Take the time to collect and sample
the aquatic foods and take them home to the tying bench. Next, look
through the 100 plus patterns listed in this book and make the closest
match.

Customize your flies with the correct color of materials that match your
samples. Pay close attention to your fly's size, shape,
silhouette, and texture. Make sure that the fly you tie matches these
factors with the natural. By doing this the flies you tie will be the
best ones for the water that you fish. You’ll catch more and
larger fish.

In writing this book I have purposefully omitted the material colors. In
the real world aquatic foods take on their own specific coloration for
the waters that they inhabit. Since these foods are constantly preyed
upon they must match their surroundings to survive. Usually aquatic
foods are camouflaged to match the weeds, rocks, and soil that they
inhabit. When in doubt select a fly that is the same color of the
bottom.

Don’t be afraid to be creative in your tying. This effort in
sampling the actual foods that fish are accustomed to eating and
matching them will pay off in larger and more fish. This process will
make you a better fisherman.

Fish feed upon a great variety of water and land born nourishments. An
angler's artificial flies are designed to imitate these foods.
Matching your fly to the specific fare that the fish are presently
feeding upon is key to success.

Land born foods are classified as terrestrials; consequently, water born
foods are classified as aquatics. The significant terrestrials are ants,
grasshoppers, mice, moths, lizards, earthworms, beetles, and crickets.
The important aquatics are caddisflies, mayflies, stoneflies, midges,
craneflies, dragonflies, damselflies, crustaceans, forage fish, leeches
and eels.

These natural foods can be imitated by today's flies. But first
the natural food must be identified. Knowledge of what the fish are
presently feeding upon is essential to select the right fly. Time spent
observing before fishing is well spent.

Start by watching the waters surface for insect activity. Observe both
the birds and the fish to see what they are feeding upon. I carry a pair
of compact binoculars and use them often. Then I collect a sample
insect.

A small aquarium net can help collect the insects. Place the net just
under the waters surface to catch the actively hatching insects. Also
use the net to catch the air born ones.

Find a spider's web and observe its contents for a history of the
available insects.

A stomach pump can remove the fish's recently ingested food. But
first a fish must be caught. The pump is sold in most fly shops and is
designed for its intended purpose. It is simply a rubber bulb with a
plastic tube. The bulb injects a small amount of water into the
fish's stomach and the pressure on the pump is released sucking
some of the fish's ingested food back into the bulb. Now squeeze
the bulbs contents back into your hand or into a white container.
Inspect the contents. A major disadvantage is that the pump only removes
the small food items and not the large ones lodged into the stomach. The
pumps’ advantage is giving you the small presently ingested
insects for identification.

A large screen is useful in identifying the assortment of foodstuffs in
a stream. Such knowledge is useful when purchasing or tying flies for
the specific stream. The screen is made by stapling a three foot section
of window screen to two broom handles or one inch by two inch slat
boards. Place the screen downstream from your waded position. Next,
dislodge or overturn rocks with your feet and allow the debris to
collect onto the screen. Take the screen a shore and examine its
contents. It will contain a large sample of the streams aquatic founds.
Save its contents in small bottles filled with eighty percent alcohol
and twenty percent water.

Once the foodstuff is collected, try to identify them. Next, go through
your fly box and make a match. Choose a fly that mimics the foodstuffs
size, texture, color and shape. Imitate the foods action with the proper
presentation and retrieve.

The size concerns the foodstuffs measurements in terms of thickness,
width, and length. Foods smaller than half an inch are best imitated as
to its exact length; on the other hand, foods larger than half an inch
are best imitated as to its exact thickness and width. Choose your fly
selection accordingly. The texture is the overall feel as to the foods
softness or rigidity. A fish's mouth readily detects texture and
a too soft or too hard of a fly will be readily rejected. While a good
match will be ingested.

The shape is the foods silhouette. This outline is an important
consideration in matching the fly. Suggestive and impressionistic flies
that match the foodstuffs three dimensional shape are the
most successful. Suggestive flies can match a multitude of possible
foods. While sometimes exact imitations restrict the number of matches.

The color match is helpful but it is not as important as the other
elements of imitation. Natural foods color and patterns can vary in
shades and tones. Hence select your fly as to the general color pattern
of the natural.

Action, is the foodstuffs natural movement. The presentation and the
retrieve mimics’ this motion. Action depicts a living movement
that fish key upon while feeding.

Volumes of text could be written on the huge variety of foodstuffs eaten
by fish. There are thousands of varieties of both land born and stream
born insects. Try to classify your findings into one of the general
groups. Match the natural foods size, texture, color, action, and
silhouette with one of your flies.

Wrap thread onto the hook shank from about 1mm behind the eye to the
start of the hook bend. As you evenly wind thread try avoiding both
spaces and over wrapping thread. You may trim off tag end after about 10
wraps.

Wrap thread onto the hook shank from about 1mm behind the eye to the
start of the hook bend. Tie in the hair tail material by making two
loose wraps followed up with 3 to 5 tight wraps. Continue with
additional tight wraps right to the base of the tail. These tight wraps
will compress the hollow hair and flare those outwards.

Continue wrapping the hair forward to where the body is expected to end.
This provides an even base for the body.

Select hackle for proper size and desired stiffness. Cut stem at
junction with webby and stiff fibers. Strip away fibers exposing 2 to
3mm of stem. Tie in stem with 2 loose wraps to place, followed up with 3
to 5 tight thread wraps. Concave side of hackle is opposite of body.

Wind hackle evenly forward to 1mm behind hook eye. Tie off with 3 to 5
tight thread wraps. Cut off to break away excess hackle. Short or
slippery hackles require hackle pliers while long hackles can be wound
with fingers.

Whip finish head with 4 to 8 turns. Pull tag end firmly and cut off
excess thread. Its easier than it looks. Place thread on the
“S” hook as shown and wrap thread around the shepherds
hook. Then wind the entire handle of the whip finisher in a clock wise
rotation. Once the number of wraps are complete pull tag end of thread
and ease up on the shepherds hook by gently pulling it towards the
fly's head. Once there let the thread slip off shepherds hook.

The far left hackles in both photos are saddle hackles. They are longer
in length than the other 2 hackles. Saddle hackles can come in stiff or
soft fibers. The stiff ones are best for dry flies because they soak up
less moisture. These hackles come in larger sizes and are used to tie
larger flies.

The center ones are neck hackles. Likewise they can come in either stiff
or soft webby fibers. The soft ones soak moisture which helps sink the
fly. Neck hackles come in smaller sizes and are useful in tying smaller
flies.

On the far right are found the hen hackles. They are the softest and the
webbiest of the 3 hackle types. They work well for wet flies and for
burnt wing dry flies.

Starting with the turkey tail in the upper left hand corner and
travelling clockwise are the following: ostrich plume, guinea hen
hackle, wood duck flank feathers, pheasant tail (bottom), and peacock
herl. These feathers are used in tails, bodies, hackles, wing cases, and
wings. Hence, these feathers are very useful in creating lifelike flies.

The upper left is moose body hair and travelling clockwise are the
following: elk, whitetail deer tail, died whitetail, and deer hair. All
are used in forming tails, wings, legs, and in spinning bodies. (except
for the whitetail tails because they spin and flare poorly) These hairs
are hollow and provide some buoyancy to the flies.

These are my essential tools. They are: bench organizer, vise, whip
finishers, bobkin needles, tweezers, hair stacker, scissors, bobbin with
thread, head cement and applicator, wonder wax, bobbin threader, and
wing burner. Purchase quality tools and they will last for a lifetime.
My vise is over 35 years old and has tied thousands of flies. It works
as well now as when it was new.

Pictured are the Thompson Whip Finisher above and the Matarelli Whip
Finisher below. They are used to tie the whip finish knot which is the
best knot to secure any wrapping. I prefer the Thompson to finish the
head of the fly and I use the Matarelli to tie secure knots away from
the head of the fly.

Pictured are bobbins loaded with pre waxed thread. The wax helps the
thread stay in place and makes it easier to tie flies. Threads pictured
are all different diameters. The fine 6/0 to 12/0 are used for the
smallest flies. The 3/0 are used as an all-around thread for a wide
variety if sizes. The A size is used on the largest flies.